I have been told by a reliable source that the Huawei E586 could be the pocket WiFi used by Smart for the Rocket WiFi Plus. The press release says it’s going to ride on their HSPA+ network so this looks like it.

After taking some time using the Netphone 701 under the SmartNet, I think I finally got where this is headed and how it is going to boil down. Check out our review of the Netphone 701 and the Netphone ecosystem after the jump.

So I bought the Smart Bro Rocket at Smart’s Wireless Center in Rockwell this morning. They made me sign a waiver that outlines some of the limitations of the dongle and the service. So, here are 10 things you need to know before buying the Smart Bro Rocket.

In a blogger gathering with Smart this afternoon, they showed us the entire HTC line-up including the HTC Chacha which is initially exclusive to them for the first month. They also discussed their new tiered pricing for mobile internet called Always On.

PLDT now has an overwhelming majority of the telco business in the Philippines — it owns Smart, Talk ‘N Text, Red Mobile and now Sun Cellular representing more than 70% of the subscriber base combined {see earlier story here}.

[Update: Smart per Minute Rate for Mobile 3G] Smart is offering a new prepaid mobile internet plan — at one-peso-per-minute rate. That’s basically Php60 per hour, way more expensive than their current offering which is Php10 per 30 minutes or Php20 per hour.

I’ve been using Smart’s UnliSurf offer (UnliSurf 50) for some time now especially when going out of town and use the Smart Buddy Prepaid SIM card with a USB dongle. The offer is now available with SmartBro Prepaid SIM cards too with the new UnliSurf 100.

Looks like Smart is testing a new service under their SmartBro brand which offers WiFi service to customers. Called the SmartBro WiFi, prepaid users get a Smart Tag with username and password to access WiFi hotspots for just Php10 per 40 minutes.

That didn’t take too long. Learned about this a couple of days ago but held off until it was official and the prepaid prices have been finalized. This is Globe Telecom‘s response to Smart’s Unlimited Prepaid Blackberry Plans.

Smart is setting first in the Blackberry service in the Philippines by offering prepaid plans on a daily or weekly basis. This is pretty good news for those who have open-line BB phones bought without a post-paid plan before.

Nothing beats Sun Cellular when it comes to mobile promos. I guess that’s because if you’re at the bottom of the heap, you get to shake things a bit if you want to seriously compete. Just take a look at this 1-day unlimited internet for only Php50.

It’s finally here, Smart Bro is now offering unlimited 3G access for a monthly flat rate of just Php1,500. That, and the earlier announcement that they’ve upgraded their network to speeds of up to 2Mbps.

This was just texted to me by a contact from Globe — that their Visibility plans are now available in prepaid — a move that directly competes with SmartBro Prepaid. This is on top of their postpaid GV 799 and GV 999 plans I reported earlier.

While searching for the same umobile connection problems online, I bumped into this interesting discovery — the uMobile Wireless Broadband Package. Wow, I didn’t know umobile was already offering something similar to SmartBro Plugit!

Telecom rivals have announced their aces for all their prepaid subscribers this week: Smart with free 30MB mobile internet everyday until November 30, and again Globe with free Facebook starting next week. The next question that comes to mind: Are these really beneficial, or are they charge-bait promos that will give us more headaches?

There’s no denying that 2013 was a big year in tech following evolutionary steps in mobile, console gaming, wearables & pocket photography. However, there a lot of things we didn’t get to see yet and things we’re still hoping to see. As 2013 ends, we take a peek at what we’re hoping to see in 2014.

There’s ben a lot of debate regarding the iPhone 5 offerings between Smart and Globe. While we made our initial analysis earlier, we dug a little deeper to give you a bigger and more comprehensive picture of what you’re getting from both telcos.